


The Whole Being Alive Thing

by Strangexunusual



Series: Where There’s Life [1]
Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Best Friends, Bonding, Comedy, Dead People, Demons, Drama, Families of Choice, Family, Family Bonding, Found Family, Gen, Ghosts, Human, Multi, One Big Happy Family, Post-Canon, Talking To Dead People, not beetlebabes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-26 14:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30107304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strangexunusual/pseuds/Strangexunusual
Summary: It was only going to be a matter of time, the Maitland-Deetz family thought. They knew that Betelgeuse was bound to return and come back to the house at some point.What they weren’t expecting, however, once he does return, was for him to be human, for him to be a breather. Now they’re desperate in figuring out how this all happened in the first place. As well as trying to get him accustomed to being a breather.But how exactly are they going to do just that when he’s so used to being a demon?
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Charles Deetz & Delia Deetz & Lydia Deetz & Adam Maitland & Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz & Adam Maitland & Barbara Maitland
Series: Where There’s Life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2226183
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	1. From Demon to Human and Death to Life

Betelgeuse should have known just how quickly his mom would be back. Instead of going on his vision quest to search for and find his dad, the demon instead found himself inside her office. He was nervous, his hair a shade of people. And from behind the desk, his mother sat, discarding a cigarette and tossing it off to the side. Her eyes were locked on Betelgeuse, her giving him a glare that he knew could kill him twice. 

He went to say something, but nothing would come to mind. A hint of blue peeked out from the purple. It was faint, but there and he reached up a hand to cover it. 

“Ma,” he started, but her speaking up cut him off before he could say much of anything else and he closed his mouth. 

“I knew that you were a disappointment, Lawrence,” she sneered at him. “You should’ve known what would happen when you fed me to that Sandworm.” He stayed silent, still unsure of what else he should or could say. And his mom just continued on with her ranting. “Oh! You didn’t, did you? Well, how about a taste of your own medicine?” 

His hair color went from just being purple to half purple and half blue, an expression of panic flashing across his. What did his ma mean by a ‘taste of his own medicine’?

“Ma-,” he tried to say. She cut him off again. 

“That living girl, Lydia, you were best friends with her right?” 

Betelgeuse’s hair turned red at this and he slammed his hands on her desk. “Leave her alone, ma!” 

She seemed to just ignore him, summoning another cigarette and continuing on, “I’m sure that she and the rest of her stupid little family would appreciate having to deal with you again... this time alive.” 

“Leave them all alone!” he defensively said. 

She removed her cigarette, and leaned over her desk to look him in the eyes. “Let this be a lesson to you, Lawrence.” 

Before Betelgeuse could even think of a response, his hair color going from red to its previous blue and purple, Juno snapped her fingers and everything went black. 

When Betelgeuse came to, he found himself back in the living world. He sat up straight, stretching and looking around at his surroundings. Several passersby had stopped and were now just staring at him as if he just appeared there in a flash of light. And all he wanted to do now was ignore all of the stares that he was getting.

He stretched once again and stood upright, looking around at his surroundings and somehow finding himself near the bottom of a small, grassy hill. He tried snapping his fingers, growing confused when nothing of the sort seemed to even happen. Trying a second time just to be sure he wasn’t imagining things, he gave up when it turned out that he wasn’t. 

‘Did something happen to me?’ he thought quietly to himself as he started to walk. ‘Was this what mom meant when she told me ‘let this be a lesson to you, Lawrence’?’

However, he didn’t get much far when he got exhausted, sitting himself down on a nearby bench to rest for a little bit and closing his eyes to take a nap. When he opened them again not even five minutes later, he was initially surprised to find Lydia standing not too far from him, turned and looking at him in surprise. Looking off to the side, he caught sight of Charles and Delia staring at him with the same look of unease and fury. Though it was more unease than it was fury. 

A silence befell the four of them, eventually getting broken by Lydia, who took a step forward. Her dad coughed and Lydia stopped, now standing right smack dab in the middle of the footpath. And she only could utter out one thing,

“Bj?” 

“Hey, Scarecrow,” he managed to say. “Long time no see, huh?” 

Lydia stepped forwards again, not doing as much as even paying attention to her dad when he tried to get her to not move any further. Betelgeuse stood up from the bench and wrapped his arms around his best friend. And Lydia parted when she heard what she thought was a faint heartbeat.

“Beej, are you alive or-?” she questioned. A look of pure confusion crossed his face as he processed that. 

“Alive? no, I’m not,” he tried to say as he backed away a few hundred feet from Lydia, who seemed insistent on still making sure that her best friend - whether he was alive like she seemed to think he was or if he was both still dead and a demon like he still thought he was. “What makes you think that, kid?”

“You have a heartbeat,” Lydia seemed to say. And that only served to confuse him even further. “And your hair is brown now. Instead of its usual green.”

When he insisted that he still had green hair, Lydia pulled out her phone, opened up the camera app, and handed it to him. He just stared at himself for a few minutes, noting that he did in fact have brown hair. He still had on his everyday black and white striped suit, so that was good. After a while, he handed Lydia back her phone and sat himself down on the same bench from earlier.

“So... I really am alive, aren’t I?”


	2. Come Hell or High Water

Lydia nodded, moving to sit down next to her best friend before her dad and Delia could do as much as stop her. Sure he did bad stuff in the past and tried to kill all of them on top of that, but Charles and Delia figured that it'd be best if they just stayed out of the way. Both Lydia and Betelgeuse stayed silent for a brief while, unsure of what to say. All that was and had been on Lydia's mind was that she would never see her best friend again, that he'd gone to the Netherworld with no intention of returning. Which Lydia had initially thought of as being unlikely. At least up until now. 

And what was currently on Betelgeuse's mind? Why he was suddenly alive and a breather instead of dead and a demon. Had this been what his ma meant when she said 'a taste of your own medicine'?

He chose not to think about that, pushing that thought to the back of his mind.

"Bj?" Lydia spoke up, the first to do so after about a while. He turned and glanced over in her direction, then looked away, focusing back down towards the ground and studying his fingers for a brief while when Lydia couldn't think of what else to say. The words didn’t seem to come to her until a mere few minutes later. “How did things go back in the Netherworld? Did you find your dad?”

“No...”

“Oh,” Lydia replied, then shifted a little, looking up towards the clear day sky. 

After yet another moment of silence that befell the four of them, it was Betelgeuse himself who happened to speak up, feeling a bit unsure about all of this. He wasn’t sure that they would let him stay after he tried to kill all of them. “I don't suppose that I could stay with you guys from now on, can't I?" 

Lydia was deep in thought about all of this, looking over towards her dad and Delia and wanting to know what they had to say about all of this. "So, dad, Delia, what do you think? Should... can he stay with us?" 

Both adults shared a glance, then turned back to Lydia and Betelgeuse, exceptionally stern looks appearing on both of their faces as they folded their arms. Finally though, out of both adults, it was her dad who was the one who had an answer to her question. "No! Absolutely not! In no way are we going to allow him to live with us!" 

Lydia stood up and made her way over towards her dad and Delia, coming to a stop not too far from where they were both standing - the two of them still keeping their stern yet furious gazes locked solely over onto Betelgeuse, who was starting to become nervous. "C'mon! Please, dad! He's a human now... a living person like us. Can't you please just let him stay with us? Please?" 

"Yeah, c'mon, ol' Chuck, my man! Please?" Betelgeuse said, now pouting and giving him puppy dog eyes - which did nothing to change his mind on the matter. 

"My answer remains no!" he firmly said, tapping his foot and making his daughter even more annoyed and desperate than she previously was. "Now, come on, Lydia, we have to get back home. Adam and Barbara are waiting for us." 

"We're not leaving until you agree to let him stay with us," Lydia said, causing her dad and Delia, who had begun on their way back home, to stop and turn in her direction. She had her fists clenching and she seemed to refuse to move until both of them said that it was okay for Betelgeuse to stay with them. Behind her, he stood, still nervous and glancing around at his surroundings. 

“Lydia, come on, please, let’s just go,” her dad tried in an attempt to convince her to head back home. But the teenager stayed firmly still, not wanting to move. 

“But.... dad, he’s my best friend. We can’t just leave him alone here. Not when he’s stuck here as a living person. Please, we need to give him a chance. He needs it. Please just let him stay with us. Please.” 

Charles opened his mouth to speak, then closed it when Delia walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to look at her, and noted the soft, small smile on his second wife’s head. “Lydia’s right, Charles. We can’t just leave him all alone out here. He can stay with us if he wants to stay with us. And since Lydia seems to want him to stay, then so do I. What say, Charles?” 

“I- what will the Maitlands think about all of this when we come home with him in tow?” When Delia, Lydia, and Betelgeuse each gave him a pleading look, he let out a low, quiet, and long sigh. “Alright! Fine! He can stay with us!” Looking pointedly over at Betelgeuse, in a furious yet stern tone of voice, he added, “but no chaos or trouble! Got it?” 

“Abso-lute-ly,” was Betelgeuse’s response as the four of them began on their way home.

As they walked, Betelgeuse would not stop going random places and doing things that he didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to do - including eating flowers and running off at random intervals. And when they finally got home, Charles stopped Betelgeuse in his tracks and Lydia and Delia, who were now halfway up the stairs, stopped and turned on their heels to look at the two of them. 

“Now, mr. Betelgeuse..?” Charles paused, unsure if he should refer to him as that - since he was no longer a demon. Betelgeuse nodded, and Charles continued, “now, before we head inside, please be aware that we will have a strict set of rules that you need to follow. Do you understand?”

“Perfectly.” Betelgeuse nodded again, following the Deetzes inside. Charles closed the door behind Betelgeuse as soon as the latter stepped through. 

“ADAM! BARBARA! WE’RE BACK!” Lydia suddenly shouted out, and Betelgeuse suddenly became nervous all over again as both of the ghosts floated out from the kitchen to greet them. 

“How was it?” Barbara asked, a small smile on her face. 

“Good... we ended up running into a certain someone whilst we were on our way back here though...” Lydia glanced off to the side and pointed a hand. 

Both of the ghosts’ gazes flicked from Lydia to Betelgeuse, who had since paled, silently wishing that he was still a demon and not a breather. And severe looks of anger immediately flashed across both of their faces.

“What ... is he doing here?”


	3. Rules and Readjustments

"Wait!" Lydia suddenly called out before Adam and/or Barbara could do as much as hurt Betelgeuse, the Maitlands straightening their postures in response to this and looking over towards her as equal looks of confusion formed on both of their faces. As was everyone else in the house actually. "He's not here to cause any trouble! Much less do what he did the last time!"

"Lydia," Adam was incidentally the one who chose to speak up, breaking a brief moment of silence between the six of them, sternness and anger both present within the tone of his voice. "What are you talking about! He's dangerous! You know that! He did nothing but lie and betray and even almost kill all of us the last time he was here! He needs to leave the house now!"

"But when we found him earlier, he was like that!" Lydia argued back, again pointing a hand out towards Betelgeuse. The anger that the Maitlands felt towards Betelgeuse transitioned to a look of confusion as their attention drifted from him to Lydia.

"What do you mean?" spoke up Barbara sternly, now crossing her arms. "Like what?"

"He's a human," Lydia managed to sputter out, causing the Maitlands to look at one another confusedly before turning their attention back to her. "He's alive now... a breather just like my dad, Delia, and I. Can he please stay here with us? Please?" 

"That depends on what your dad and Delia said on the matter," Adam spoke up, turning his attention to the aforementioned living couple. 

"We said that it was fine as long as he didn't cause any sort of trouble and followed the house rules we have," Charles affirmed a few minutes later with a simple nod and Adam nodded as well before he turned his attention back to Lydia, letting out a sigh.

"Well then, I guess it's okay," Adam spoke up, with Barbara nodding a few times in response and adding,

"He can stay in the guest room then, I guess. Adam and I will sort through it and set it up for the remainder of the afternoon and whilst you guys have your dinner and it should be done hopefully just before the nighttime." Barbara turned her attention towards Betelgeuse, who nodded in response. 

"But first," Charles said in a stern tone of voice as he and the rest of the adults turned to look over towards Betelgeuse, who still looked as nervous as he was earlier. "We need to go over our house rules."

Oh right. Betelgeuse had completely forgot about that. His mind and his thoughts had been focused solely on the Maitlands ever since he'd stepped foot in the house for the first time since - he couldn't really remember how long ago it was and had been since the last time he was there. In fact, he'd ended up drowning out most, if not all of the house rules and only just remembered when Charles coughed loudly to grab his attention and Barbara, with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, sternly spoke out,

"Betelgeuse, did you even hear a thing we said?" 

"H-huh..." he spoke up, or rather mumbled out, dazed, looking around the room at the now entirely unamused Maitland-Deetz family. "No... sorry 'bout that. I wasn't listening. What you guys were talking about, could you repeat it?"

Barbara glanced at the rest of the adults with a look that said 'do we really have to go over our house rules with him again'? The others all nodded in unison and response, and Barbara sighed dramatically to herself on the inside as they all turned and focused their attention back over towards Betelgeuse, whose eyes were now focused on something other than the Maitlands or the Deetzes. 

"Ahem, Betelgeuse!" Barbara reminded him in a stern and unamused voice, causing him to look over towards her and the others with an apologetic but amused look on his face. Not one of the other five seemed to be pleased with the fact that they had to go over the house rules a second time - but hey, Betelgeuse wasn't listening the first time so...

"Okay, one!" Charles spoke out once he and the others were sure that Betelgeuse was in fact listening and paying attention. "No murder! We can make an exception for when the house is robbed or if there's an intruder, but please - no murdering any other living resident of the house."

"No murdering unless necessary," Betelgeuse affirmed with a nod. "Got it."

"Two," Barbara continued. "No unnecessary touching." 

Again, Betelgeuse nodded. And when he just happened to turn his attention away from all five of them, Charles managed to turn the former's attention back over towards him and the rest of the family. 

"Three," Adam added. "No causing trouble or chaos." 

Another nod from Betelgeuse. 

And finally, Barbara spoke up again. And four! There will be no kissing or trying to flirt with me, Adam, Charles, or Delia." 

Betelgeuse's face fell at that last rule. 

"Is that it or are there more?" Betelgeuse spoke up eventually, confusion in the tone of his voice when a silence befell the room. The other five glanced at one another then looked back over towards Betelgeuse. And Barbara chose to be the next to speak,

"Yes, that's it. For now. Unless we need to add any more that are necessary, then we are fine."

Again, Betelgeuse nodded in response, and turned to go elsewhere when Lydia speaking up in a confused but curious sounding tone of voice directed his attention back over towards where everyone else in the house was standing. "Wait! Bj, you're a human now. Does that mean that you can actually say your own name or are you still unable to?" 

Betelgeuse looked down, thinking for a minute, then turned his attention back over towards Lydia and all four of the adults - the latter four all now looking equally as curious as Lydia herself was. 

Eventually, he said, “you know... I’m not really sure actually. I haven’t been thinking about that as much. But since you just happened to bring it up, I could try and see if I can.” 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. In, then out again. Then, he opened his eyes again and turned towards the other five. Half of him was telling him that he was still cursed - that he still couldn’t say his own name. But the other half of him was telling him that, since he was a human, that he was no longer cursed and could say his own name as many times as he pleased. He again looked around the room, noting the curiosity on everyone else’s faces had grown even more as they waited to see if Betelgeuse could say his name or not.

Betelgeuse closed his eyes again, relaxing just a smidge. “Hi, my name is Betelgeuse.” 

Everyone else turned to look at one another, looks of surprise replacing the looks of curiosity that were on each and every one of their faces and Betelgeuse opened his eyes again, once more looking around the room.

And the next thing that came out his mouth was spoken in excitement. “I- I did it. I actually said my own name.”

He, like everyone else, was too caught up in the excitement and surprise, that they’d lost track of the time. Well, for a while at least.

Now turning her attention over towards a nearby clock in order to check the time, Barbara noted that it was nearing about two in the afternoon and she and Adam both teleported upstairs - leaving the other four downstairs. 

Charles and Delia headed upstairs to do their own thing as well for now, and that left only Lydia and Betelgeuse downstairs. Lydia turned and went over to the pantry, grabbing out two chocolate chip cookies - one for her and one for Betelgeuse. She had originally offered one of the two cookies to him but he had declined it, saying that he wasn't really hungry at the moment. 

"Well then," Lydia said in a sing song voice, setting both of the cookies down and grabbing herself a glass of milk before setting that down next to the two cookies. "Guess I'm having two cookies then and you're not having any."

"You're just a big meanie," retorted Betelgeuse, reaching out a hand and trying to grab one of the two cookies that Lydia was now holding in the air and just out of his reach. 

"Well you're being an even bigger meanie."

"Am not!"

"Are too!" 

Lydia smirked both slyly and teasingly over at Betelgeuse as she took a bite of one of the cookies and still kept the other one just out of her best friend's reach. 

Eventually moving to stand on top of the kitchen island, Lydia stuck her tongue out at him. Before he could stand up on the island as well, Lydia slid off of it and took off running down the hallway and up the stairs with the cookie she was originally going to offer Betelgeuse still in her hand. Betelgeuse stood up as well, pushing the chair that he'd now been sitting on in and rushing off down the hall and up the stairs after Lydia. 

"Could you please give me your other cookie, scarecrow?" 

She turned her head and stuck her tongue out at him once again, the tone of voice that she used towards him slightly teasing. "I thought you said that you didn't want it earlier and that you weren't at all hungry, Betelgeuse!"

His eyes narrowed, their chase taking them right past the house's guest bedroom. Adam and Barbara, who had only just gotten started on setting up said room for Betelgeuse, stopped what they were doing and quickly teleported out of the room, Barbara calling out to the two of them in an amused voice and laughing,

"And just what are you two doing?!"

Lydia and Betelgeuse turned towards Barbara and Adam, spotting the two ghosts looking at them with amused looks on both their faces, then turned to look at one another before they turned back to the Maitlands with sheepish looks on their faces.

"Uh...." Betelgeuse began, scratching at the back of his neck. "Lyds flat out refused to give me her other cookie." 

"Hey!" the teenage girl shouted back, her head snapping over in his direction as she took a bite of the other cookie, the one that Betelgeuse said she refused to give him. "It was only because you said that you didn't even want that cookie and that you weren't that hungry earlier. If you really wanted the cookie, then you could have just said so."

"Fine then! Can I please have your other cookie, scarecrow?" Betelgeuse extended out a hand in hopes that the teenager would give him her other cookie. 

But Lydia just smirked at him, shoving the rest of the remaining cookie in her mouth.

"It's too late now."

"HEY!!! Meanie pants! No fair!" Now angered, Betelgeuse lunged towards Lydia and she just stepped out of the way with a smirk still present on her face. Adam and Barbara nervously glanced at one another, then back at Lydia and Betelgeuse. 

They knew they had to act fast before much of anything else could happen. Before either of them could get hurt. Nodding to Adam, Barbara extended out a hand as a light green glow surrounded it - the same green glow surrounding and freezing Lydia and Betelgeuse in their tracks. Betelgeuse in the air with his hands outstretched and Lydia smirking gleefully at him as she ducked out of the way. Choosing now to throw her voice down the hallway, Barbara shouted out,

"Okay you two! Cut it out now!" 

In response, Lydia and Betelgeuse nodded in unison and Barbara released her hold on the two of them. She looked between both of the breathers, now a little calmer and wanting to deescalate the current situation. However, Lydia and Betelgeuse were both still teasing one another and pulling funny faces. Barbara sighed, summoning two more cookies and handing one each to Lydia and to Betelgeuse. And since Lydia had already had a couple cookies, she just threw hers at Betelgeuse and took off running down the hall - eventually just running right into her bedroom and lightly closing her door behind her.

Betelgeuse took chase again, also running down the hallway towards Lydia's bedroom and leaving both Adam and Barbara just standing there and staring at the empty spot where they both had recently been. Then both ghosts phased through the door to the guest room and continued on with setting it up - silently hoping that all of this chaos would eventually wear the both of them out.

But it didn't.

Betelgeuse threw open Lydia's bedroom door with just enough force to splinter and break it as it was thrown off to the side. Lydia turned towards Betelgeuse and the empty spot that was once her bedroom door. Standing up and making her way over towards him, she lightly and forcibly but playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey, idiot of a best friend! Good job! Now I'm going to need a new bedroom door." Lydia's tone of voice was far from sarcastic. 

"Hey, I wouldn't have done just that if you hadn't thrown your cookie at me!" Betelgeuse retorted. Lydia stuck her tongue out at him and he did so in return, also playfully punching her back in the shoulder. 

"Whatever," Lydia finally spoke up, rolling her eyes sarcastically and turning to reenter her bedroom with Betelgeuse following closely behind. The both of them wanting to do some catching up.


	4. The Faint of Heart

Adam used his powers to push a dresser he'd recently materialized into place, having it in his mind that it had to be perfect. After the last interruption of Lydia and Betelgeuse chasing each other over one's refusal to give the other their cookie and then Lydia opting to throw her cookie at Betelgeuse before he again took chase, both ghosts were hoping that there would not be any more interruptions for the time being. 

And, for a while at least, it seemed to be that way. 

Well, at least up until a cough was heard and both ghosts turned their heads in confusion to find Betelgeuse leaned against the doorframe and looking nervously at them. Like he was unsure of whether or not he should say anything. And not one of them seemed to even say a single thing - for a moment at least. 

Initially surprised and shocked by this, the Maitlands regained composure and Barbara slowly led Betelgeuse into what was to formerly be the guest room and soon his very own bedroom. He plopped himself down on his bed and urged the Maitlands to continue on with what they were currently doing. And when neither ghost seemed to want to do that - instead sitting down on either side of him, he became nervous all over again - playing with his hands as his attention drifted down towards the carpeted floor. 

"Betelgeuse, you there?" Barbara spoke up out of confusion, snapping him out of a daze he didn't know he was experiencing. He blinked a few times, shaking his head as his attention drifted from the carpet and towards Barbara. 

"H-huh..." was all he could think of saying.

"You nervous or something?" Adam asked, Betelgeuse looking at him before looking back at Barbara. When Betelgeuse's attention span refocused on the carpet of his new bedroom, a cough from Barbara returned his attention to her.

"I take it that does in fact mean that you're nervous?" Barbara had to guess as she rested a hand on his shoulder, Betelgeuse not doing as much as flinching from the contact. 

Betelgeuse wiped some sweat that had recently formed on his forehead away and kicked at something that was still left laying about - something that Adam immediately teleported to its correct location afterwards. He now had his eyes closed, his head hung as he took a deep breath before he opened them again.

And he didn't know that he was again out of it until Barbara spoke up,

"Betelgeuse?! Bud?"

His eyes flew open (wait, when did he close them again?) and his attention drifted back to Barbara, noting that the female ghost was tilting her head to the side - a confused look on her face as she glanced at him. Looking to Adam, he noticed that the male ghost was the exact same way. And the only thing that was on the now-breather's mind was that Barbara had called him bud. He blushed but relaxed just as quickly, taking another deep breath - one that he wasn't aware he needed. 

"I'm not nervous," Betelgeuse said, sounding, of course, a bit nervous, hoping to take that particular thought off the Maitlands' minds. But all Barbara seemed to do was shake her head and let out an amused laugh, causing Betelgeuse, and Adam, to glance over in her direction. "What?"

"What?" she repeated in a similar tone of voice, looking down then refocusing her attention back towards both males - living and dead - in the room. "You were playing with your hands earlier, Bj. That's often a sign that someone is either nervous, unsure, or even uncertain of themselves."

"Did Delilah tell you that?" 

"No." Barbara laughed again. "Delia did not tell me that, Betelgeuse."

He nodded, letting his mind wander elsewhere. When he started imagining himself still being a demon and having powers. Now that he was alive, a human, a breather, it upset him that he now had to do things without using his powers. And it wasn't until Barbara tapped him on the shoulder that he came back to reality. He looked over towards Adam and Barbara - both of whom were now standing over near one of the walls of the guest bedroom. 

'When'd they get up?' Betelgeuse ended up thinking, his attention drifting to something that Adam was now levitating in the air - both him and Barbara looking towards Betelgeuse with expectant, inquisitive looks on their faces. He pointed a hand out towards the picture above Adam's head, wondering about it and tilting his head to the side as a curious look appeared on his face.

"This?" Betelgeuse nodded. "We were asking you exactly where on your wall you would like it," Barbara said, pointing a finger at the same picture. 

Betelgeuse's attention flicked from the picture Adam had to the wall, then he pointed at an empty location. Almost immediately, Adam hung the picture in the exact same location that Betelgeuse had pointed out to him - then both he and Barbara looked back over towards Betelgeuse, the same expectant, inquisitive looks appearing on both ghosts' faces.

"What?!" Betelgeuse asked out of confusion.

"Is there anything else that you'd like in here?" Barbara asked. Betelgeuse glanced off to the side, deep in thought, then turned back to the Maitlands - both of whom were awaiting on an answer from him.

"No. Not that I can think of. It's fine the way it is." 

Adam looked at Barbara, then turned back to Betelgeuse. "Are you sure, because there's not a lot of stuff in here. This room is still a little empty. Are you absolutely sure you can't think of anything else you'd like in here?" 

"No..." 

"Well, okay then... I guess we'll leave you to it." Adam and Barbara turned to leave, but before they could do as such, Betelgeuse called out to them - his tone of voice sounding uncertain and unsure at the same time,

"Wait?!"

Adam and Barbara turned to Betelgeuse again, Barbara asking, "did you just now come up with something else that you wanted in here?"

"No." Betelgeuse looked down, then looked back up at the Maitlands, what he said next sounding a little regretful and concerning the Maitlands, "I was wondering if you could work on a particular something in Lydia's bedroom?"

The Maitlands worriedly glanced at one another, then back at Betelgeuse as they raised their eyebrows in confusion. Whatever it was that Betelgeuse was currently talking about sounded bad. What in Lydia's bedroom was now broken? 

"What on earth happened?" Barbara spoke out. Betelgeuse's attention flicked to her and he gulped. 

“I kinda sorta broke her door in half."


	5. Just For Fun

"How? How does that even happen? How did you even manage to break Lydia's bedroom door in half?" Those three questions were uttered out by a panicking Adam so fast, Barbara could barely make out what it was that her husband had said, whereas Betelgeuse, on the other hand, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, relaxing as he formulated a response to all three questions. 

"Threw it open with enough force to cause it to break in half in the middle."

Adam and Barbara looked at one another, then turned their attention back over towards Betelgeuse. Adam spoke up again after about a little while, "well then, let's just go and check it out for ourselves. See if there's anything that we can do about it." 

Betelgeuse nodded and moved to stand over near where Adam and Barbara were, closing his eyes and again allowing himself to relax as Adam snapped his fingers and teleported the three of them out of the guest room and just outside of Lydia's bedroom. Betelgeuse had, by now, moved to lean against the wall outside Lydia's bedroom and Adam and Barbara looked over towards the two broken pieces of the teenager's bedroom door. After a while, they both turned their heads and looked towards Betelgeuse with worried looks on their faces - which he immediately guessed meant a bad thing. 

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do about it. You broke it in a way that would render it not fixable."

"So you could just ask my dad and Delia to go out and buy me a new bedroom door or could you just make a new one appear out of thin air and attach it to the doorframe? There really isn't a way it can be fixed?" Barbara, Adam, and Betelgeuse's attention turned to Lydia - the aforementioned teenager leaning against her doorframe and looking disappointedly over at the Maitlands.

"I'm afraid not, Lyd," was Adam's response as he snapped his fingers and made Lydia's old bedroom door disappear in a flash of light. Barbara did the same thing not too long after, a brand new bedroom door that looked exactly like the old one appearing and attaching itself to the doorframe - just as soon as Lydia stepped outside of her bedroom, that was. 

"There we go!" Barbara spoke up once it was done. "Good as new. You'll barely notice any difference." Within the next few seconds, neither ghost was even expecting Lydia to run over towards them and throw her arms around them in a tightened hug. Eventually though, the two of them returned the hug that she was giving them - with warm smiles appearing on both ghosts' faces. 

"Thank you guys so much!" Lydia cried out, letting go of the Maitlands soon afterwards and stepping back over to her bedroom door, opening and closing it a few times each. Barbara let out a laugh, whereas Adam rolled his eyes. 

"Careful with that door, Lydia. The last thing we want is for it to be broken like your old one was. We can not just replace your bedroom door on a daily basis," Barbara had to remind the teenager - causing the latter to stop with what she was currently doing and turn to look towards the Maitlands with a grin of amusement on her face. 

"Sorry," was Lydia's response as the Maitlands turned and headed downstairs for now. Lydia turned to head back into her bedroom, but turned back around again when Betelgeuse, still leaning against the wall, spoke up,

"Scarecrow?" 

"Why don't you go spend some time in your own bedroom, Beej-..." Before Lydia could even finish her sentence, Betelgeuse had rushed off to his room only to come running back down the hall towards Lydia's with a pillow in his hand. Lydia fake-gasped, then turned on her heel again and ran right back into her bedroom but left the door open. Soon after, Betelgeuse ran inside Lydia's bedroom and was suddenly hit right in the face by a pillow that was most likely thrown at him by an amused Lydia.

"Hey! No fair!" he shouted, launching towards Lydia. She jumped off her bed at this, causing Betelgeuse to face plant into it. Looking up, he threw the pillow at Lydia - who then caught it in midair and threw it back at him. "Double no fair!" 

When it hit him in the face, Betelgeuse removed the pillow and threw it back over towards Lydia - who ducked then righted herself, grabbing the same pillow from the air and chucking it at him. Catching it once he walked over towards Lydia and placed the pillow on top of her head. Wanting to mess with his best friend, Betelgeuse rested a hand flat out on top of the pillow and prevented Lydia from removing it. 

Lydia reached up, her hands clutching and gripping at both ends of the pillow as she tried to remove it to no avail. Betelgeuse reached down to grab another pillow - which gave Lydia just enough time to pry the pillow off her head and throw it off to the side.

"Hey!" Betelgeuse said, starting to light hit Lydia in the back of the head with the pillow he'd reached down to grab. "No fair!" 

Sooner or later Lydia's room was a cluttered mess as a result of the pillow fight that Lydia and Betelgeuse had recently had, but the new bedroom door was still intact and not broken in any way, shape, or form this time. Barbara and Adam phased through the closed bedroom door and entered Lydia's room to find Lydia laying on her bed, fast asleep with a pillow over her face. Betelgeuse, on the other hand, had since gone back to his new bedroom. And one of Lydia's pillows appeared to be missing from her bedroom - most likely taken from there by Betelgeuse. 

The two ghosts looked confusedly at one another, then Barbara calmly floated over towards Lydia's bed and stood next to it - followed closely behind by Adam. Carefully, Barbara leaned over and tapped Lydia, speaking in a soft voice, 

"Lydia, are you awake?"

"Just five more minutes please...." the teenager mumbled out softly, rolling over on her bed so that she was now laying flat out on her stomach and face planting into her pillow. Barbara straightened herself and turned to look at Adam, then turned her attention back over towards Lydia. 

"Don't you want to come down for dinner, silly?" Barbara had to say with a laugh, causing the teenager to awaken and sit up - her attention drifting over to Adam and Barbara.

"Is it dinnertime already?" 

"Dinner started five minutes ago."

"Shit!" Lydia said, forgetting how many times she was reminded to not curse. 

But Barbara didn't have quite enough time to remind Lydia of just that, since the teenager had already stood up from her bed and rushed right out the door - leaving the Maitlands just standing there both stunned and silent for a few seconds before they teleported downstairs as well.


End file.
